Shopping and more bandits

Merlin pulled his hood up and walked through the streets that were now softly lit by the sun's rays barely peeking out over the town's walls.

As Merlin made his way down the streets, he came across several pairs of guards scattered amongst the town. He watched as one of the guards stood by as their partner extinguished the various lanterns lining each street, refilling each lantern with more oil before moving on to the next lantern to repeat the process.

When he reached the centre of town, most stores were already open, especially those that dealt with food. Some stores were currently in the process of cleaning up after the customers they had during the night, others were converting their stores from their night to daytime operations. The remaining stores were either still in the process of opening up, or were yet to be open.

Merlin scouted the market looking for a tailor, he was hoping to find some comfortable clothes so he could escape the beginner rags he was currently wearing.

Clothes, often called outfits by most of the players, were a special type of equipment that was worn underneath almost every other form of equipment.

Clothes could get dirty, but they couldn't be permanently damaged, if clothes were damaged then they'd take on a tattered appearance, but it was just a visual effect that would repair itself over a short period of time. And unlike most other forms of equipment, such as armour, accessories or weapons, clothes did not have a chance of dropping on death. These were all changes added to prevent potential harassment, and remove all possibility of a player respawning naked.

Walking around, Merlin came across the old tailor store he originally visited when he arrived in town, the cloak he previously wanted was still there in the window. Merlin entered the store, where he was greeted with the sight of the same old man, this time sewing together what looked to be a suit jacket.

The old man didn't look up this time either, so Merlin just looked around. He spent a few minutes just staring at the various vests, trousers and jackets. He was searching for something comfortable that would let him move around easily, he ended up finding somewhat baggy black pants and a decently comfortable white short-sleeved shirt, costing him eight silver pieces.

After purchasing and equipping his new clothes, Merlin left the store in search of an armourer. With his current funds he didn't expect to pick up much armour. A pair of leather bracers, maybe just a leather breastplate if he was lucky, but with his twenty-one silver that was unlikely.

After searching around town, he found a couple armourers, but their low end merchandise wasn't worth the price. So in the end, he decided to save up for something decent rather than waste his money on lacklustre gear, it wasn't like anything around this level was giving him any issues, besides the ghost of course.

Making his way back to the mercenary guild, he decided to stop by Lychester's Provisions to see if he had any skill books in stock. As he walked through the door, a notification appeared in his peripheral vision reminding him of his quest objective, and also telling him his target was nearby.

「Eliminate Arwell Lychester.」

Merlin ignored the notification for now. Although he was tempted to kill Lychester on the spot, he knew he wouldn't get away unnoticed. He took a deep breath and walked into the store, making sure not to bump any of the various towers of junk. Upon hearing someone enter his store, Arwell poked his head out from behind a wall of items, and upon seeing Merlin again his expression dulled as if he lost interest.

Merlin noticed this and ignored him, he walked up to the counter and made a request. "I'm looking for a couple utility spells, cleanse and ignite."

"The books are one gold each." Arwell spoke in an obnoxious tone, as if he were looking down on Merlin again. It was only after he received a confirmation by Merlin did the fat man disappear behind yet another wall of junk, only to return a few minutes later with two books.

Merlin didn't feel happy about giving this man any more gold, but this was probably the only store that sold them in this town. He reached into his inventory and converted twenty silver pieces into two gold, then placed them on the counter.

Arwell's grubby little fingers flung out and wrapped themselves around the gold coins. His eyes looked back over to the books, then back at the coins. Merlin grabbed his books, getting a dirty glare from Arwell as he did so, and then quickly made his way out of the shop without saying a word.

Merlin walked down the street, slowly making his way towards the mercenary guild. As he travelled, he opened up his new skill books, causing them to light up and vanish from his hands, giving him a notification in return.

「Knowledge obtained: "Utility Magic: Cleanse"」

「Knowledge obtained: "Utility Magic: Ignite"」

Both spells were recorded into his knowledge library and added to his ability list. He still had a few spells he wanted, but couldn't afford them for now, so these two would have to do.

He finally made his way to the mercenary guild, he pulled down his cloak hood and walked in. The rowdy environment quickly died down once again as people turned to see who entered. This was a feeling Merlin didn't enjoy, but he ignored them and walked straight towards the counter once more. He heard faint whispers as he walked past the several groups, but it didn't seem like anybody would mess with him again, at least there was some benefit to the misunderstanding.

"Welcome back Ghost." The bartender greeted him while drying a mug with a rag. "I see you've cleaned yourself up."

"Please stop calling me that." Merlin took a seat on the closest bar stool. "I really don't want that to stick."

"What can I help you with?" The bartender ignored Merlin's complaints and went straight to business. "I take it you want more work? If so I've got the job for you."

After receiving a nod from Merlin, the bartender placed the mug and rag down and brought out his stack of quest forms. He shuffled through them before pulling out a single sheet and placing it down on the counter in front of Merlin.

"Since we've experienced first hand how much you love bandits, take a look at this one." The bartender picked up the mug once more and finished drying it off, before turning around and giving Merlin an unnecessary comment. "There aren't any women and children in this group, just a group of highway bandits."

Merlin's face crumpled at that remark, and the bartender seemed to pick up on Merlin's feelings, flashing him a guilty smile. A quest notification appeared, Merlin took a look at it.

┌───────────────────

[Uncommon Quest]

Clear the route to Macedonia.

The town guards have submitted a formal request to the mercenary guild. They have received reports about a small group of well-armed highway bandits camping on the main road between Orchomenus and Macedonia.

They're currently not prepared to set out on an expedition to capture the bandits, but require the issue be dealt with quickly. There is a risk that the priestess may be attacked when she returns if they aren't dealt with in time.

Your mission is to destroy or capture the bandits in time, a bounty of five silver per bandit has been posted.

Highway Bandits remaining: 6

• Reward: 30 Silver, 300 EXP, +10 Orchomenus Reputation

└───────────────────

Merlin accepted the quest and then turned to the barkeeper, "Do you have anything that ties into this task?"

"I thought you might ask that, so I prepared this one for you too." The barkeeper pulled out an envelope with an interesting wax seal. Green wax that was marked with the symbol of two intertwined snakes biting each-other's tail. "An envoy from the oracle heard about the bandits and wanted guards to protect him on his way back to Macedonia. Apparently the town's guards denied him, so he came to us."

"The oracle?" Merlin wasn't sure who he was talking about, the beta's map was based around an ancient Greek island, but the reference to Delphi was used somewhere down the line in the main world.

"Ahh, that's just what the envoy called her." The bartender explained. "She's some woman that appeared a few months ago, she's made a name for herself in Macedonia as someone who can see the future, so her followers call her the oracle."

"She goes by another title, that's what outsiders tend to be more familiar with." The bartender pointed at the wax seal on the request envelope. "The Serpent-Bearer, Kilo."

Merlin nodded his head, he recognised the name. Although he didn't have any interactions with her in his past life, he did hear some rumours about her later in the game. When he opened the envelope, a quest notification appeared.

┌───────────────────

[Rare Quest]

Guide the oracle's envoy to Macedonia.

An envoy of Macedonia's oracle has requested guards to safely guide him back to Macedonia. He has heard the rumours of highway bandits and doesn't want to risk the journey alone.

The town guards have denied his requests for escorts, whether this be due to not recognising the oracle as any form of authority or being too preoccupied with the priestess' safety, the envoy has now turned to the mercenary guild for safety.

This is a request for a minimum of three people, any spots not filled in will be supplied by the mercenary guild.

Ensure the safety of the oracle's envoy as he makes his way back to Macedonia.

• Reward: 1 Gold, 500 EXP, +10 familiarity with Serpent-Bearer Kilo

└───────────────────

"I'll take it, where do I meet up with this envoy?" Merlin accepted the quest.

"He said he's staying at an inn on the eastern side of town, the Faded Bunny I believe it was. I'm sending two of my boys along with you. Don't worry, they wont get in your way." The bartender responded, pointing at two strong looking men who Merlin noticed were subtly shaking their heads.

"Alright, I'll head over there now." Merlin stood up from his stool and threw his quest forms in his inventory. His eyes snapped onto the two mercenaries the bartender pointed out, and they lowered their heads as he approached. "Are you two ready or should I wait for a bit?"

"We'll be right there, give us a few minutes to get ready... please." One of the mercenaries spoke up, his voice slowly trailed off as he talked. Merlin realised that it was one of the friends of the mercenary he smashed through a table, he almost felt sorry for the guy.

"I'll be waiting for you two outside then." Merlin spoke quickly and left the building, leaving the two mercenaries to scramble together their equipment and scarf down their breakfast.